Mississippi Photo Gallery and related media

Mississippi

Mississippi's State Capital - Jackson

Jackson, Mississippi is the state's capital city. The Federal Building in Jackson is the first government building to be named after an African American. Dr. A.H. McCoy was a prominent dentist and business leader.

The Illinois Territory’s northern boundary originally ended at the southernmost point of Lake Michigan, leaving it with no port on the Great Lakes, and, crucially, no access to the proposed Erie Canal. Congress shifted the border north, taking land from Wisconsin, and giving Chicago to Illinois.

Originally called Deseret by its Mormon founders, the territory stretched across much of the West. A suspicious Congress cut the state down to size, removing any areas, like Nevada’s silver mines and Colorado’s gold deposits, it considered valuable.

George Washington picked out the location and laid out a perfect diamond shape for the city, spanning parts of Maryland and Virginia. But a looming fight over slavery caused the Virginia side to leave the District and return to its home state, giving D.C. its strange shape.

Once part of Massachusetts, Maine joined the Union as a free state in 1820 to counterbalance the admission of Missouri, a slave state. But Maine’s northern boundary wasn’t settled until the United States and Great Britain compromised and established what would become the Canadian border.

Florida was once Spanish and much larger. Its panhandle stretched from the Savannah River to the Mississippi, but, over time, the Spanish relinquished land and the entire area came under American control.